ORGANISATION

An African Organisation

Incorporated in Mauritius

An African Organisation

The African Hydrogen Partnership (AHP) is the only continent-wide African umbrella association solely dedicated to the development of green hydrogen, green hydrogen based chemicals, fuel cell technology and related business opportunities in Africa. In this context, the AHP represents the whole African continent and all African nations.

Consequently,

the AHP needed to be incorporated in Africa,
the AHP's country of incorporation and its legal form of organization need to facilitate the AHP to grow into a leading supranational organisation of significant importance.

Incorporated in Mauritius

Mauritius is the country of incorporation for the following reasons:

politically accepted by all African nations, African regions and ethnical groups
a non-aligned country ideal for building constructive relationships across the entire African continent - and bringing the Arabic North and Sub-Saharan African countries together
African nation (with English considered to be de facto one of the national and common languages)
well established legal system and jurisdiction compliant with international rules and regulations
political stability, safe environment as well as open and diverse society
ease of doing business internationally (in that respect, Mauritius is one of the leading nations worldwide)
Mauritius is not a producer of fossil fuels

UK Law

The modern system of law in Mauritius is an amalgamation of French and British law. In accordance with the Article 15 of the AHP Articles, "Everything not provided for in the present statutes must conform to the UK (United Kingdom) law as applied in Mauritius." UK law was selected since

the AHP's working language is English
the most widely used business language worldwide is English
the official language used in the Supreme Court of Mauritius is English
the official language of the Mauritius Parliament is English

Private Company Limited by Guarantee

Since the AHP must conform to UK law as applied in Mauritius, private "Company Limited by Guarantee" is the legal form of organisation selected for the AHP.

Companies Limited by Guarantee are commonly used for non-profit organisations and associations (similar as in the UK, under UK Law). A company limited by guarantee is a distinct legal entity from its owners, and is responsible for its own debts. The personal finances of the company's guarantors are protected. They will only be responsible for paying company debts up to the amount of their guarantees.

On November 10th, 2020 the African Hydrogen Partnership Trade Association (AHP) was incorporated as a non-profit Private Company Limited by Guarantee in the Republic of Mauritius (Company No. 176378) with its registered office at

The African Hydrogen Partnership (AHP)
c/o Accuvise Administrators Limited
7A Mayer Street
Port Louis
Mauritius

A Private Company Limited by Guarantee

An Authorised Company, the Registered Agent

Authorised Company (AC)

The Authorised Company (AC) Licence is delivered by the FSC (Financial Services Commission). An AC's activities, control and management are outside of Mauritius. An AC is not allowed to perform financial services.

With its control and management abroad, the AHP is considered as non-resident for tax purposes in Mauritius. Hence, the AHP is set up as an AC in Mauritius and is considered as a foreign company for tax purposes. Agreements for the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Mauritius do not apply. The AHP is tax-exempt in Mauritius.

The AHP has been authorized by the Financial Services Commission (FSA) of the Republic of Mauritius as an Authorized Company (AC; Authorisation No. AU20032398; Code FS-4.3).

An AC is required to appoint a Registered Agent in Mauritius. The AHP commissions a Management Company (Accuvise Administrators Ltd) to act as Registered Agent.

Registered Agent

The duties of the Registered Agent (non-exhaustive list) include:

filing financial statements with the Mauritius Authorities
filing of any document required under relevant Acts, e.g. registration of new Members and Board Members
safekeeping of records (e.g. Board minutes, resolutions and such other documents as required by the Mauritius Authorities)
undertaking measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, and any other related offences as specified by the FSC (Due diligence procedures in accordance with the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Regulation 2018).

Deloitte, Accuvise Administrators and PWC developed the legal form, the organisational structure as well as compliance processes of the AHP and managed the registration process in close cooperation with the founders of the AHP.